Houston's average household income lags behind many other Texas cities, new census data reveals

Houston has fallen behind many major Texas cities in terms of annual household income, according to new data released by the U.S. Census Bureau. Following a four-month delay, the latest version of the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS) data was released last week. The new numbers offer a variety of data points for cities across the nation, including annual median income, education levels and commute times. It's important to note the Census Bureau received far fewer responses in 2020 than at any point in the last two decades, largely due to issues posed by the pandemic. In 2020, Houston's annual average household income was $53,600, roughly $10,000 less than the state average of $63,826.

Out of 15 of Texas' most populous cities, Houston lags way behind, ranking No. 10 for annual income. Plano ranks No. 1 at $96,348. Houston's reputation for welcoming large populations of immigrants and refugees is one explanation as to why the Bayou City lags so far behind other cities, according to Bill Fulton, director of Rice University's Kinder Institute for Urban Research. "Obviously Houston is a city of great wealth but it’s also a city of great income inequality," Fulton said. "Probably 30 to 40 percent of the households in this city are just barely scraping by...and really have no disposable income. They are not unemployed, but these are often people with lower educational attainment, sometimes immigrants who are working at low-wage jobs -- there’s a lot of low-wage service jobs in this city."